Tax Lawyer Convicted of Aiding and Abetting Tax Evasion

A “tax attorney’s” conviction for aiding and abetting tax fraud I am not sure that makes him a tax attorney). The District Court sentenced the attorney to 30 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release. While this seems like a light sentence don’t forget that the tax attorney’s license to practice will most likely be revoked as a consequence of this conviction.

The tax attorney, Barry Jewell, suggested to his client, Carl Evans, a scheme by which a fictitious company agreed to fund the client’s litigation in exchange for 100% of amounts awarded over $250,000 as a result of the litigation. No such offer existed and Evans funded the litigation himself, but Jewell provided Evans a fictitious letter making the offer, on the basis of which Evans’s accountant innocently prepared his tax return. With the aid of Jewell, Evans created a new company, forged documents to backdate its existence, and used it to hide the income exceeding $250,000 that purportedly went to the company that fictitiously funded his litigation.

As a part of his appeal, Jewell contended that there was insufficient evidence to find him guilty of aiding and abetting tax evasions. The appellate court disagreed. Evans testified at the trial that Jewell concocted the above scheme for the purpose of Evans’s tax evasion and the IRS testified that a tax underpayment of over $700,000 resulted. The appellate court ruled that these facts were sufficient for a jury to find that Jewell aided and abetted tax evasion and affirmed the lower court’s conviction.
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